“So, yeah, you take a chunk of stable territory off a labyrinth that never stops. Otherwise you've got nowhere to be, and that's it.”
Nobody explains Level 0 to you when you arrive. If you survive long enough, you end up seeing that each day down there fits in one sentence: you tear stable territory off a labyrinth that moves. The world doesn't stay still and chunks change place on their own, so the only thing you can win is a place of your own. You win it by stabilizing a piece and, in the end, anchoring it.
A day in three paces
There are three routines nested one inside the other, each with its own pace.
The minute. You walk down the yellow corridor, look into a room, open a box, hear something. The Skinstealer takes care of the tension: if it catches you from behind it doesn't hit you but grabs you, and if you don't break free of the struggle it kills you. The reward is small: a can, a bottle, scrap. It lasts seconds or minutes.
The expedition. You leave your shelter and come back with something to spend. It lasts between 45 and 90 minutes.
- Set out with a full tank. Thirst and hunger set how long you last out there.
- Explore in search of water, metal and cable, and of a good spot, meaning the chunk you want to make yours.
- Return. The return is the moment of real risk: loaded, tired and with something to lose.
- Spend. Build, stabilize, anchor.
The count. There is no ending. What accumulates is your anchored base, which never shifts and is the only “forever” in this place, and the greatest depth you have reached. Going down is your call, and there is never a forced exit.
The clock of the place
Every chunk has a timer and, when it reaches zero, it moves, and that is Displacement. Each chunk is in one of three states.
| State | What it means for you | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Unstable | It can go at any moment and what you leave there goes with it | costs nothing |
| Stabilized | It holds, and sanity drains less | from cheap (first tier, instant) to expensive (third tier, 30 min) |
| Anchored | Yours for good, your base lives there | 50 cable and 25 min |
Knowing when a chunk will move is impossible and nothing and no one warns you. That uncertainty shapes the day, so don't trust what you haven't anchored. The three layers of stabilization are the road for anyone who wants to sleep easy.
The first hour
Nobody guides you or tells you anything. You wake up thirsty and you search. You find water, see there's little, and ration it. You find scrap and a workbench, and you craft. You go back to a spot and it's gone, and there you understand the place. You stabilize a chunk and it holds. You anchor it and that floor is yours.
If you die, you wake in a bed and start over.
What people report
- Several survivors talk about rationing Almond Water in sips to stretch the expedition, and about dismantling furniture to take its parts.
- What's anchored can serve as safe storage, though everyone gives a different figure for how long it lasts.
- The oldest veterans tell of short raids into Level 4 to come back with rare material.
See also
Level 0: yellow offices, The Fastenings: Screws, Nails and Cable Ties, Scrap Piles, Paper Maps.